


Looking for His Gumball

by Intheshadows9



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cosplay, M/M, Slightly homestuck, because I want there to be, comic con au, implied springles, jeanmarco
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-09 07:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3240836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intheshadows9/pseuds/Intheshadows9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean drags Connie with him and Sasha to a local comic-con. Little does he know that he will find love in the world of geeks, let alone dressed as the other half of his cosplay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of it All

**Author's Note:**

> I had this sitting around for a while so I thought I would start posting it!

It's too damn early in the morning to be this meticulous with makeup, but with my costume, I have to. It just so happens that this very weekend is the annual comic con in town and I was given the opportunity to go!  
I clutched the black face-paint crayon for dear life as I feel my eyelids slowly start to droop and grow heavier and heavier.  
“God damn-it Jean! Does it really take you that long to get dressed on a normal day?” Connie yelled from the kitchen of my house. I jolt awake again and I pretend that I just couldn't hear him and continue putting together my costume. I can sense the bald boy's frustration as well as feel him clomping his way up the many steps it takes to make it to the upstairs. I look in my mirror at the place where I had the crayon poised, ready for action. I ran my tongue over my natural teeth and the vampire fangs I have inserted over-top of my upper canines.There was one of the smaller dots exactly where I wanted it to be; and then there was where the other one is supposed to go, there was a small line instead of a dot. I think that's from when I dozed off, however, I can't be too sure.  
“Shit!” I exclaim to myself as I try to rub the line off without destroying my beautiful face-painting that took forever to perfect. Lets just say that I've been up for hours trying my damnedest to get it fucking right, no need for specifics.  
“Hurry up man, we're going to be late if we keep up this pace! You don't want to be late to your stupid convention thing do you?” I can't believe it. Connie just called the Convention a “thing”, like how are we still friends? I slam my now clenched fists against the wall and I can audibly hear him jump back in shock.  
“It's just this one part keeps messing up and I need it to be perfect!” I yell out of anger. My mirror looks like shit after all the abuse that it has received in the duration of this morning.  
“Well let me in and see if I can help.” He speaks up in a manner that sounds like I might bite his head off if he says another word.  
“You know what, sure you might be able to make it look at least slightly fucking right!”I throw down the face-paint crayon onto my already cluttered desk and watch it get swallowed by the mounds of papers swarming it.  
He stepped through the door and wasn't the slightest bit phased by the mess I had created of my room in this dressing-up process. He looks at me from head to toe and gives me the “What the actual fuck are you doing” look while trying to figure out exactly what being swallowed his two-tone haired, slightly-horse-looking, and replaced him with this being that looks nothing like someone Connie knows.  
“What the actual fuck man? You know what, I'd rather not know. Just, what do you need help with?” Bravely, the other boy stepped a little closer until he was right beside me.  
“I can't get the vampire bite marks on my neck quite right, could you get them?” I could see him roll his eyes at my request, but I knew he would help anyways because he's such a great friend.  
“Fine, just give me a minute.” It literally only took him a minute to draw two dots on my neck that I should be more than capable of doing myself.  
“By the way, what or who the fuck are you supposed to be? 'Cause I have no clue man!” I am appalled by what he'd just said. I even cover my mouth in shock and jump back a little to show him how much this damn thing means to me.  
“Why I'm Marshall Lee from Adventure Time, duh, isn't it obvious?” I say pointing to both the bite marks on my neck and at the plaid shirt which I'm wearing. I keep motioning towards them until he shows a sign that he finally understands or just wants me to stop. He still looked at me like I was some strange specimen from another planet.  
“Anyhow, we gotta get moving if we're ever going to make it.” He starts down the stairs and I race after him not wanting to get left behind. Connie could move easy because he was just wearing normal jeans and t-shirt with a thin sweater over-top of that. If he though that what I am wearing is the weird, then he's certainly in for a surprise when we meet Sasha there.  
I can honestly say that between me and Connie, he is definitely the better driver out of the two of us. If I were to drive like this, I might get a few weird faces from the moms as we drove by as well as we might crash into something seeing as I am so easily distracted.  
“Did you remember your ticket?” That was the first thing to come out of my mouth once in the car and driving away from my house. I waved mine under his nose and in his line of sight to get his concentrated eye.  
“Yes, I'm not stupid. It's in my pocket if you want to hold onto it just in case you don't believe me.” He pointed to the right pocket of his sweater and I immediately went to grab it. Now holding both our tickets in my hands, I stuff them deeply into my pants pocket. The bald boy grinned madly at my action and even started to laugh a little.  
"What's so funny?" I ask feeling left out of the loop. "Come on Connie please tell me?" I hate not knowing what my friends are laughing at or about and I always like to be included.  
"Just I knew that you were going to do that eventually, you always do. Whenever we go somewhere that requires tickets, you go batshit crazy to make sure everything is in order so we don't have to turn around and get something that we may have forgotten. That's all." To show emphasis in some parts, he dared to lift his hands off the steering wheel and wave them around. I smiled a little but tried my hardest to pretend that what he said isn't true, yet I know it is.  
When we got to the gates to the main event centre, we proceeded through into the hell that we call parking lots. Actually struggling to find a good spot was harder than Connie had expected at this "just a nerd convention" event. Finally finding a spot where we're in-between a small, light blue Prius and a red Ford Focus, pretty much at the very edge of the rather large parking lot from hell.  
As we approach the building, I spot quite a few other cosplayers cosplaying characters from different books, manga, anime, t.v. shows as well as movies. One person stuck out amongst the crowd, they had pastel pink hair which I could only assume to be a wig. The rest were brighter colours such as blues and reds, that person was the only one I saw with the pastel hair so far.  
The line to get in winded out the front doors and along the side of the beige coloured exterior of the building, and to make matters worse, it was considerably windier here than it is at home. I held onto my jet black wig for dear life hoping that it wouldn't fly away carrying me with it!  
Once inside the building, still in line, I took the time to fix my wig from the damage the wind had done to it. Luckily, nothing broke or flew away in the gale-force wind outside. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the pastel haired person again. Now with a better view, I can identify the person as being a male and it is in fact, a cosplay. Hold on, a crown on the pastel pink curls...could this be? No way! Some guy came dressed up as Prince Gumball! I can hardly contain my excitement while Connie goes on pretending he doesn't know me, like normal. At least until a third joined our group. At first, both Connie and I couldn't figure out who was talking to us so liberally, but then I put two and two together and got Sasha. She really went out of her way this year for her costume. She's dressed like Slave Leia from Star Wars, with her hair put up how it is in the movies and everything. Connie was at a loss for words, he never quite knows what to say to his girlfriend/best friend on the rare occasion and I guess today's one of them.  
"Y-you...I mean- You look-G-goo...I mean great" The bald boy blushed furiously at the female staring at him contently.  
"Why thankya darlin'. Did Jean rope you into coming this year or what? I never knew you were a fan of all this magical stuff we call, "fandoms?"" She pointed to me at the last part and I nodded my head so hard, I heard the insides rattle.  
"It's not that way at all darlin', I just wanted to see what all the hubbub was about that's all."  
I pulled Sasha aside and whispered in her ear, "I heard he came to find his Slave Leia" she pulled away and twisted her face into a look that says "your fucking joking right?", and went back to holding her now thoroughly embarrassed boyfriends hand. She then looked over what I was wearing and she looked confused.  
"And what the fuck are you supposed to be Jean?" She said that very loudly, but nobody paid any attention to her.  
I yelled out in frustration. "I'm Marshall Lee from fucking Adventure Time! Does nobody watch that show but me anymore or what?!"  
"Ahhhhh, I see it now! I just had to close this one eye, and squint really hard with the other..." I flashed the jokes tear a murderous glance "Ha! Of course I'm only kidding! I knew from the beginning! I was only playing with ya-ha-ha..."  
The line moved quickly from there on, and I was only able to steal one other glance at the Prince Gumball cosplayer before he disappeared into the booths.  
"Whatcha lookin' at there Jean?" Connie and Sasha asked comically in unison.  
"Just I thought I saw someone dressed as another character from Adventure Time! Maybe the show isn't dead after all!" The duo just rolled their eyes at my attempt to regain my faith in humanity.  
We get our weekend wristbands put on and we are turned loose in the halls that occupy the Con. Connie and Sasha run off probably in the direction of food leaving me alone, alone to wander these halls alone. I start by pacing through the different rows, looking at all the art on display and for sale. I indulge and find myself buying a print of Marshall Lee that one of the artists had made, they however made the price lower because I in fact was cosplaying him. That is one of the reasons I love dressing up as a well known character, you get discounts and free shit when you least expect it.  
"Excuse me," a small voice came from behind me. I spun around and found that someone, a girl around my age, was trying to get my attention. "Would it be okay for me to take your picture?"  
"I don't see why not!" I responded way over-enthusiastically for me. I posed in the pose I had been working on all of yesterday. She quickly took a couple pictures and told me it was okay to relax again.  
"Thanks!" She smiled at me and continued on her way before I could even respond, leaving me standing awkwardly with my mouth hanging half open.  
Deciding to leave that behind, I continued my browsing, and eventually swapped halls. This hall is quite a bit larger than the last one and is absolutely full of kiosks with stuff that's probably super awesome. I rubbed my hands together and started making my way through. Only stopping to browse further, or to get my photo taken, along with me taking photos myself. I found myself at a booth with beautiful handmade jewellery as well as pocket-watches. Yearning for a closer look at each watch, I let myself look at a couple before continuing on. You have two more days after this, you have all the time to buy stuff during those days as well; I kept thinking to myself as I passed many kiosks with lots of cool merchandise that are so tempting to buy right then and there.  
"JEAN!!!" I heard two losers yell from a small distance. Those losers were none other than Sasha and Connie of course with their mouths half-full of what looked to be like some kind of wrap. People were starting to look at me strange because I know the two weirdos who walk around and eat slobbish, slopping all over people's kiosks. Thankfully nobody can see my blush through the grey face makeup, because my face is burning red and bright! I attempt to run through the crowds to avoid them at all costs, but that proves to be pointless. It's like they're everywhere! I scramble out of the hall when they're out of my sights and try my damnedest to try and blend in with the other people who are all looking at me like I'm psychotic.  
"Je-ean!" Shit, they caught on! "You can't hide forever Jean! We will find you!" I take this as my cue to run over to the other hall that is still unexplored to me, and hopefully to them as well.


	2. Found Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had it sitting, waiting to be posted, so here it is!

Their search for me soon dies out as they're distracted once again by both the art, and of course, food. Keeping my eyes on the entrance to the hall, I continue to back up. Suddenly I hit either someone or something. Surprised, I must have leapt at least three feet in the air along with a little squeal of terror. Turning around to see exactly what it was, I found myself looking at a wall of pink. This is it, this is the Prince Gumball that I saw in line! I can't believe the luck!  
"I-i'm s-so sorry!" I apologize sheepishly and try to avoid eye contact.  
"It's really no problem man! Wait, no way! Your dressed up as Marshall Lee! I'm dressed as Prince Gumball! We definitely need to get our picture taken together!" The boy in pink is way to enthusiastic for my liking, but hey, he likes Adventure Time to, so what the hell. Who cares how enthusiastic he is, anyone who likes Adventure Time is a friend of mine!  
"Selfie together then?" I suggest, shaking my phone in my hand, awaiting his answer. He just beamed brighter and nodded. He got his head super close to mine, closer than two people should ever be, yet we do anyways and almost instantaneously, we have made great memories together.  
We must have spent at least a full hour after that just getting to know each other. It turns out his name is Marco, and I actually go to school with him right now! He must just be really quite for me not to notice that he exists! He tells me that he is also here for the entire weekend and will be Gumball for the other two days as well.  
"Same here, just mines Marshall Lee!" He laughed and his smile lasted longer than his laugh did. His amazing smile. Wait, Jean, you can't crush on someone you may have known all your life, but only just rediscovered like five minutes ago!  
"Here's an idea," the bright bubbly boy bursts excitedly. "how about we go around together? I mean fandoms should stick together and your the only other Adventure Timer that I have seen so far and it's already been at least three hours since the Con started!" I pretend to ponder the suggestion when really I am just really thinking about what will happen if Connie and Sasha find him.  
"I don't see why not!" I smile, but he smiles bigger and causes me to laugh. He proceeds to laugh as well and we sit there laughing until we're both gasping for air and are near tears streaming down our cheeks, ruining our makeup.  
Soon, but not soon enough, I spot the bald head of Connie looking right at me and he pretty much sprinted over to where Marco and I are still sitting struggling for air.  
"What's this Jean? Replace us so soon? Why?" Connie begins pretends to break down crying, but not soon after sitting right back up with a smile on his face. Both Marco and I give him a round of applause which pretty much makes up for the whole me-ditching-him thing.  
"But no seriously man, who's this?" The bald boy had his serious face on now and I could tell he meant business.  
"I almost forgot,this is Marco. We go to school with him Connie! Who would have though!" Marco stuck his hand out for a handshake which I knew wouldn't be returned properly. Connie instead high-fives it and stands again.  
"Gotta go find my Leia! Nice meetin' ya Marco!" The odd boy ran off faster than a rabbit being chased by a dog, leaving us alone yet again.  
"Strange fella he is" Marco pretty much just summed up Connie's entire existence in the span of four words.  
"That's exactly what he's like, believe me, I've known him for years!"  
"That's what I was afraid of." Marco drifted off a little bit.  
"What do you mean?" He has me worried. Did I say something wrong? Was it something that I did?  
"I mean," he leans in closer to whisper in my ear. "have you gotten yourself tested lately?"   
"No...what do you mean?" I look into Marco's beautiful brown eyes and hope for a legitimate answer.  
"I mean, I'm free to check you out anytime." He finished with a wink in my direction. Did this guy that I had only learned existed in my past five fucking minutes ago, somehow just use a smooth as fuck pick-up line on me! I'm not saying that I didn't like it, no, that would be lying, I loved it! He's fucking perfect! Of course I didn't express it otherwise this might go downhill. Only at this point do I realize how close our heads are to each other's, just how close our bodies are in general causes my insides to start flipping and flopping.  
"How about we keepmoving." The last part came out really rushed. We both start to get up at the same time and momentarily, I feel his hand brush over mine and I feel my heart literally skip a beat. Once we both started moving around again, my heartbeat slowed to about half of what it was going earlier. However, walking around together gathered more attention than I did walking alone because now people realized who I am cosplaying. We kept hearing others say things like, "oh my gosh, one of my OTP's" and "I ship it SO HARD!" Among others, but those two stood out the most.  
I turned to face the slightly larger boy by my side and spoke. "What the flipping fuck are they talking about?" It took a couple of minutes before the pieces finally clicked in my head. "Of course!"  
"Of course what Jean?" Marco looked at me dumbfounded and hoping for a solution.  
"Prince Gumball and Marshall Lee are one of the most popular ships in the Adventure Time fandom! It only makes sense that those people were saying that we are their OTP then!" I finally solved the puzzle, why every fanboy and fangirl squealed when they passed by us. We were one of their ships, or one of their OTPs.  
"Then how about we give them a show..." He puckered his lips comically and I pressed my fingers against them. That smooth little fucker!  
"Lets leave the show for tomorrow how about." I winked and removed my fingers only once he un-puckered his lips. Instead of just dropping my hand down to my side though, I grab his hand and we interlock fingers all without a word said or surprised face. it was almost like he was expecting me to do that. Hmm...interesting boy.  
Majority of the rest of the day was spent just the two of us wandering around the halls, occasionally we would see Sasha and Connie making out in one of the corners and we made sure to steer clear of those areas before we are seen by the devilish duo. All of a sudden, I felt the all too familiar burning coming from my left eye. It is always that eye that gives me he'll with these contacts!  
"Marco, I need to go take out my contacts." I say looking up at the ceiling, trying to keep the eye from burning any more than it already is.  
"Let me help you. I can lead you to the bathroom and even help you touch up your makeup while in there!" How could I refuse his glorious request. I know these are going to be hell to take out and will probably smear the make up, causing it to need to be touched up. I nod in agreement instead of speaking and he leads me to the nearest bathroom and walks me to the mirrors inside.  
It takes me a couple minutes to take out both contacts and throw them out. Now at least my eyes won't burn anymore. I trust Marco enough to fix my makeup with him knowing that without glasses or contacts, I'm blind.  
"Give me a couple minutes to just touch up around your eyes." Marco warned before taking the sponge to my face. He worked delicately and being careful not to get any in my eyes.  
I don't feel the sponge against my face and I don't think he's doing anything with my face makeup anymore. "What are you doing?" I ask him thoroughly confused.  
"You just look great." His sweet talking is about as good as it gets at this point.  
"Just hand me my damn glasses!" I held out a hand for them and they were promptly placed onto my hand. Putting them on, I looked in the mirror and was amazed at the touch up work. You could hardly tell that they had been touched up.  
"How the fuck did you touch up my eyes so well?"  
He shrugged before responding, "It helps growing up with sisters who use lots and lots of makeup! Leave the glasses on, I like you better with them on anyways!" He had his hand on my shoulder, but I then grabbed hold and laced my fingers with his and we walked outside the doors and surprise surprise, guess who was waiting for us? No one other than Sasha herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Alone Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, I don't know how accurate my Italian or French is, just a disclaimer! This chapter was a lot of fun to write and it also took a very long time to write!
> 
> Pssst... There's also Homestuck in this chapter (with slight mentions in the future). Sorry for the inconvenience!

“Jean. Who the fuck. Is this?” She questioned me, nudging me with her elbow. I push her back playfully as pink started to creep into my cheeks. I couldn't tell if you could see the pink through the makeup, but I could definitely feel it. “C'mon Jean, don't just stand there looking like a lovesick puppy, for fucks sake, introduce me!”  
“Yeah Jean, introduce me to your friend!” I can't believe Marco is actually siding with her! God this is so embarrassing!  
Finally giving into their demands (Marco's sooner than Sasha's), I introduced them. “Marco, Sasha. Sasha, Marco. Cool? Cool. So Sash, where is you other half? I thought you two'd never part.”  
All she did was shrugged her shoulders in response. She then mentioned something about how maybe she had taken the wrong way once done at the concession or something like that, and not too soon after, she wandered off in search to find her boyfriend. Luckily, when she is of sight, she is also out of mind.  
I slowly moved so I was standing beside Marco once again and rested my head on his shoulder, being careful not to rub my face paint on his bright pink outfit. He then proceeded to rest his head on top of mine also careful not to put pink makeup in my black wig.  
I look up as sort of a way to show how thankful I am that he had put up with the devilish duo and still manages to stick with me. At the same time, it looks like he was just looking down to look at me. We kept eye contact and his beautiful brown eyes melt me. I can't handle his amount of perfection and I quickly advert my eyes from this gorgeous specimen.  
“What's wrong Jean? Why won't you look at me?” He prodded playfully and pulled me into a tighter embrace, not to let me go quite yet. I curl into his body almost as instinct or something.  
“Even I'm not dumb enough to know that if you stare at something long enough, that thing tends to lose lustre to that person. In other words, I'm preserving you.” Looking back at his face, I can clearly see his blush through the pastel bubblegum face makeup. I took a deep breath in, memorizing his scent, hmm...like cinnamon.  
“Oh Jean, your too considerate.” He squeezed a bit tighter momentarily and was clearly debating whether or not to stand up or relish in this moment. “We should keep moving so we can avoid either of those two finding us again.” I held out a desperate hand because we had been sitting for so long that my left leg has fallen asleep. He hoisted me up and wrapped his arm around me again, except this time for leverage because I think his leg has also fallen asleep.  
“Mon Dieu! Mon pied est endormi! Cela se sent si bizarre!” I accidentally slip into my mother tongue amidst the “pins and needles” pain in my foot.  
Marco looks at me like now like I am some sort of rare species. “You speak more than just English?”  
I nod, “Of course! I mostly have to speak French around the house, so I sometimes slip into it at the most inconveniencing of times. What about you? Can you speak another language?” I ask hoping I'm not the only teenage boy who can fluently speak a language other than English.  
“I can speak a bit of Italian, but I'm not as fluent in it as you are with French...” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Vorrei baciarti in questo momento!”  
“Impressive! Now what does it mean?” I give off the impression that I am impressed, even though I really am just glad I'm not the only bilingual teenage boy!  
“It means...” He began, but fell short of words. His already pink face became a deep shade of red. That's when I put two and two together and half-figured.  
I made my first guess. “Does it have to do with me?” I swear that his face couldn't have gotten any redder than it did after what I said my guess.  
“Non so bene come dirlo ... ma penso che ti amo. Questo può sembrare molto cliché, ma non nego niente di tutto ciò.” Marco hid his hands in his face and started to walk away from me. He didn't get too far away before I managed to grab his arm and keep him close to me.  
“What was that all about?!” I interrogated the clearly embarrassed boy who is currently trying to escape my clutches. “No seriously, what the fuck are you doing? I'm kind of concerned over here.” The boy stopped fighting against me and instead started coming closer to me.  
"I just don't want to fuck up what we have okay? " What I said could endanger what we have between us ." He span around and sat back down where we were sitting previously. I rushed back to him and demanded that he tell me what happened. It took a bit of coaxing for him to finally speak again. “Just let me tell you when I'm ready, okay?” I gave a moment of silence in recognition of his request, hoping that he understands that the gesture signals that I won't ask him again. Not yet anyways.  
Suddenly we both heard tiny squeals behind us, so abrupt, I jump a little bit in place. Marco however, manages to keep his cool. We spun around and were greeted by a group of at least seven girls, each holding at least one small box of something.  
Marco was the first to speak. “Um... Can we help you?” He shifted a little closer to me as if in an act of defence.  
One girl piped up extremely excited. “As a matter of fact, you can!” At the last word the whole group donned a devilish grin, planting horrified looks on our faces. We gripped onto each other’s arms in terror as the girls started to close in around us. “Don't worry, this won't hurt you. It's only for our entertainment...”  
“Okay, now I am more worried than ever! Just tell us what the fuck is going on!” No matter which way we turned, there was another girl standing in our way. It appeared as if the more we try to escape, the more girls seem to appear and fill in the gaps in-between the rest of the girls It would be great if my claustrophobia doesn't kick in. Just as I think that, my chest tightens and I find myself struggling to breathe. Fuck me.  
“H-h-help me” I scrambled frantically for the right words to say to the horrified boy by my side. He seemed to understand and somehow managed to get the rabid girls to back away from us. All I can say for sure is that he may have yelled a thing or two and the rest is unknown. Even though they backed off, my head was still swimming from the lack of space there was. One of the girls, came up to me and crouched beside me.  
“Hey man, sorry about that. We had no clue.” This girl has no idea. Upon closer inspection of the boxes, they appeared to be boxes of Pocky. Why Pocky of all things to carry around all day?  
“It's okay. I try to keep that under lock and key just it exploded out when you guys ambushed us.” I tried to keep my cool around her but I almost lost it. To cover up, I made my hands look like tiny explosions to distract her attention from my face-paint that is probably smudged yet again. I look over to Marco and we exchange glances  
Is my makeup okay? I shot him a telepathic message that he probably didn't receive.  
No it is fine. That is the message that I got through his face. I breathe a sigh of relief and continue trying to slow my heart rate, which is seeming to be impossible with Marco so close.  
“Pull your shit together Kirstein.” I murmur under my breath, making sure nobody else heard my mini self-pep-talk. Dropping one of my hands to my right knee, I try to hoist myself up so I can walk it off.  
“Woah there cowboy, are you sure about this?” Marco rushed over about as fast as humanly possible to grab onto me. Right before he did, I could slowly feel myself start to lean like I am the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  
"I-I think so, just don't go too far lover boy." I kept my arms outstretched and managed to get my heart rate back to normal. I can't get Marco's concern to delete from my mind. His knit eyebrows, a permanent fixture in my mind. Just thinking about him makes my heart threaten to race a mile a minute.  
“I'm right here Jean.” I must have wavered a little because his hands started ghosting around my waist and his breath is dangerously close to my neck. I look over my shoulder at the boy decked out in pink, a shy grin glances across his face. I couldn't resist smiling back to reassure that I'm okay.  
We come across one of the couches that were set out for the Con and we sit gratefully on top of the lush leather exterior.  
“Thank the sore-butt gods!” Marco's exclamation caught me by surprise and I let out a little laugh. He then began miming how much his butt hurts by pointing at it and making a face twisted in pain, then looked up and began praying. My face must really look weird right now. I mean, the make-up is half smeared off, revealing my pale, whit complexion that has gone red. Red from laughing that is! Ignoring the pain in my side, I continue to laugh until my breaths become ultra-short and extremely choppy.  
“Stop! Stop Marco! Please, I beg you!” It took a while to get it all out with the shortness of breath. “People are looking at us weird now!” I wasn't kidding about the last part though, people were throwing us sideways glances and avoiding walking close to the couch at all costs.  
“It might also be that one of us has grey skin and vampire fangs, and the other is fully suited in pink. I mean there are plenty with grey skin, look at the Homestucks over there.” He pointed off not too far away where a group of teenagers with grey paint just like me, the only difference being the clothing and they have brightly coloured horns on their heads.  
“I guess you do have a point there Gumball!” I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up having had to stand up just to look at the Homestucks. "C'mon! Let's ask for a picture!"  
"Why do you want to do that?" Marco is perplexed. Does he know that I have read Homestuck? Probably not, but then again, he must have read it because he pointed them out in the first place as "homestucks", and not "crazy people decked out in strange clothing and horns".  
"Because it takes skill to get their horns just right, duh!" Marco looks at me as if I were speaking a foreign language. "I mean, I want to cosplay someone from the comic, but I just can't find the right stuff so I can!"  
Marco puts a hand on my shoulder. "I can help you with that. Who do you want to cosplay as?" I'm speechless. A not-so complete stranger is asking me if I want cosplay help. This is one of the greatest things that has happened to me all day.  
"I-I mean, if you want to." I am so glad my blush isn't visible under this grey. I swear I'm bright tomato red. "I was thinking somewhere along the lines of Dave or a gender bent Rose, but also maybe Tavros? I do have that fohawk thing going on under this wig-" I feel my whole body heat up now and by now, it's a miracle if you can't see my blush.  
"Woah there cowboy," Marco exclaims as if overloaded with information. What's with him and calling me 'cowboy'? "Let's take it one step at a time. I can see you being Dave or Rose. Those ones would be simpler than a troll." I nod in agreement, letting the "professional" state his opinion.  
"I agree, a human is much easier to do than a troll, not like Rose would know anyways!" Marco lets out a laugh. A small hearty laugh. One that melts a person’s insides and leaves it pool.  
"Good one Jean. Oh! That has me thinking! If we can get this in order for tomorrow, we can do another "OTP cosplay" thing instead of Marshall and Gumball! If you are Rose, I can do Kanaya! I have the horns and stuff already at home!" Did Marco just suggest that we pretend we're dating? My god, he's flirting with me isn't he? Wait, does that thing he said earlier have anything to do with his flirting? My god, I'll probably never find out. "Or, we could do Marshall and Gumball tomorrow, and do Rose and Kanaya on the last day."  
Throughout him explaining the last bit, I laughed uncontrollably. "What?" Marco asks not catching on to what I'm laughing about.  
"Oh nothing," I say just barely before bursting out again. I calm again and finish what I was saying. “I just can seem to picture you dressed like Kanaya and keep a straight face that's all!" I may be able to hide my blush behind my make up, but Marco most definitely cannot. Not behind that pastel pink.  
"Ahem," Marco tries his damnedest to stop my laughing before choosing to talk again. "You still didn't answer my question!"  
"Neither did you! Let's switch the cosplay for the third day, keeping it easier for the end."  
"What was your question?" Marco has his hands on his hips like an upset mom. He's being such a mom right now. Maybe in his past life, he was an angry mom. Maybe this lack of sleep is getting to me. Who knows?  
"If we could go take a picture of the Homestucks, remember?"  
"Oh, right! Let's go!" He grabs my hand and we walk hand-in-hand over to the Homestucks.  
Huddled in a deformed circle were the Homestucks. Nobody came over to talk to them except for us. I don't think anyone took their picture except for us. Homestucks just aren't as appreciated at cons as they should be. They dress up as characters from a comic that is one of the longest pieces of literature ever, just to be ignored and/or stared at weirdly. Let's see, there is a John, there's always a John. There was also a very well done Gamzee and Karkat duo, an Aradia cosplayer, and a Feferi wearing the horns, gills and crown. Now that's what I call dedication.  
I managed to snap a few pictures of them as a group before being dragged away by Marco. Apparently I was taking a really long time, but you can't rush a person who is thoroughly enjoying someone's cosplay. Wait, could Marco be a jealous attention whore?  
"Wasn't that exhilarating?" I say as if I had just ran a marathon. I even have the out of breath pant down to a tee.  
Marco just rolled his eyes. "Whatever." There is a lull in the noise in this area and a shrill tone from a cell phone pierces the quiet. Not once. No, at least three or four times in the span of about five seconds. The boy decked out in pink's eyes widen realizing that it is his phone ringing.  
He turns the ringer on his phone off only after glancing at the screen, curious at who might be texting him. "Woah," Marco exclaims in disbelief. "It's already like 6:30!"  
"No, I don't believe you!" I punch his shoulder lightly and he scrambles for his phone. He clicks the home button once and shows me the screen. Indeed, across the top of the screen was the time. 6:30 p.m..  
"I have to start making my way to the main doors now, my sister's coming to pick me up and she hates waiting for people!" Marco begins to walk away from me, but I grab his arm. He stops as if he doesn't want to go. Maybe he was flirting with me. Maybe he really does like me.  
"It doesn't have to end yet!" I lace my fingers with his. "I'll come with you."  
"Y-you really d-don't need to do this." His face is bright red, but I don't let go. Marco gives in and we begin walking together through the treacherously crowded halls of the con.  
About a half-hour and dozens upon dozens of pictures later, we arrive at the foyer, where we will say goodbye for like maybe twelve hours. I can tell Marco doesn't want to leave me, but his description of his sister leaves me worried for his life if he is any later than he already is.  
"Well Marshall, this is goodbye," Marco began all dramatic. "Until tomorrow morning that is!" We laugh lightly, as if to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. We're the people dressed up in full costumes and we don't want to be seen laughing. Hmm, how strange the human brain is.  
"Until tomorrow my dear Gumball." I caress his face like any good cosplayer in character would. "But how on earth will I contact you to prepare for tomorrow?" I do want to talk with him about tomorrow, but I also want to just get to know this kid. He sounds like he would be a fun person just to hang around with on a normal day.  
He nods, then extends his hand towards me. “Pass me your phone, I have a plan.” I hesitate at first, but I can’t resist seeing his large brown eyes light up with the joy that we would see each other again. He wiggles his fingers, expecting me to give in. I unlock my phone and pause. I stare at the screen. What does he want? Why my phone? Even through all the questions, his spheres of sweet chocolate brown are still boring into the side of my head and right into my soul. A deep breath is all it takes to steady myself. I hand him my phone.  
He taps on the screen a few times, as if typing. He keeps fiddling around, but eventually finishes whatever it was he was doing. He closes the window and locks the screen before handing back my phone.  
“Talk to you later.” Those are the last words he said before going out to meet his waiting sister. No explanation no nothing. I look at the black screen of my phone and see the face of Marshall Lee reflected back at me.  
I press the lock button and unlock my phone. Instead of my usual background staring at me, there is still a page open. It is a contact page. At the top, the name Gumball (with Marco in brackets following suit) was typed next to a picture of him. When did he take the picture? I don’t remember this… The picture isn’t exactly the most flattering I’ve ever seen. Under his name was a number. A phone number, his phone number. I grin at my phone screen and open a new messaging screen.

To: Gumball (Marco) – Heey, its Marshall (Jean)!

A minute, maybe two passes before a light ping comes from my phone.

From: Gumball (Marco) – Heey dearie!

What did he call me? Is he serious? What the actual fuck is going on here? I change his name to Marco to prevent further confusion in the future. We continue on with our normal chatting, more so about tomorrow than anything. Every one and a while he slips a dear or hon in his texts, and it keeps throwing me off. Keep in mind that I must look strange wandering around the con staring at my phone expectedly and stopping and grinning and the screen.  
Connie finds me first. “Where’s loverboy Jean?” He plants his hands on his hips and waggles his eyebrows at me suggestively.  
“He had to go home. Don’t worry, he’ll be back tomorrow Connie to fulfill your fantasies” I made a face back and his face went a slight shade of red. If I weren’t wearing all this face makeup, my face would be about three times darker than a strawberry in the middle of the summer.  
Sasha creeps up behind Connie, causing the bald boy to let out a small, girlish scream. “Hey Jean,” she talks to me around the angry Connie. “Where’s big and beautiful?”  
“Don’t even bother Sash, I just asked. Jean says he went home.”  
Sasha lets out a defeated groan. “Well, I guess we better head home as well.” She truly looks disappointed, but I can’t wait to get home and talk with Marco all I want without interruption.  
My phone buzzes in my pocket the whole way to Connie’s house. Between that and Connie’s constant bothersome mood, I am slowly going crazy. We get back to my house and Connie finally stops whining, because who wouldn’t where there’s free food?  
We walk through the door and Connie plants himself on the couch. “Okay man, I need to shower and get all this makeup off my face. You good by yourself?” I ask him, but I already know the answer. Of course he’s okay.  
I climb the many stairs, and in my room, I start to wipe my makeup off. My phone starts to ring. I look at the screen and see Marco smiling at me. I smile back and accept the call.  
“Hey Gumball”  
“Hey Lee”  
“Whatsup?”  
“Getting my makeup off my face for the most part so I can sleep”  
“I’m doing the same thing”  
God, taking makeup off with one hand is really hard.  
“Nice, well I can’t wait to spend the whole day tomorrow with you!”  
“Same here!”  
“Well, I gotta go if I ever want to get this makeup off. It’s really hard to get makeup off with one hand!”  
“Why does makeup have to be so difficult? Like how do girls deal with this everyday?”  
“We all know that girls aren’t regular humans, they’re like human two-point-oh”  
“True, very true. Well, I’ll let you get to your makeup. See you tomorrow!”  
“Good night! See you tomorrow!”  
I set my phone down and continue the repetitive wiping of my face and start running my shower.  
When I get out of the shower, I hear my phone vibrating on my table, making an awkward symphony that’s not going to stop until I check it or shut it off. So of course I check it. What I see is an entire stream of both texts and pictures from Marco.

From: Marco – I miss being with you already :,(

Wait, is he serious? Does he actually miss me? I mean he is cute and all, those freckles are to die for, but me of all people?

To: Marco – Miss you too!

I send him a selfie with the message to switch things up a bit. I didn’t realize before, but I am actually exhausted.  
“Connie!” I yell down the stairs, but I get no response. “Connie!?” I jog down the stairs over to the couch. What I see is not what I thought. I thought Connie was too bust stuffing his face to reply to me, but instead, he’s passed out on the couch. God, he looks so peaceful. Maybe I shouldn’t wake the beast.  
I go back up to my room quietly this time and bask in the rare silence, laying on my bed. One more text breaks the silence. I roll over to my phone and look at it.

From: Marco – Good night!

I facepalm mentally and reply.

To: Marco – Good night! Love ya!

That’s right, I sent it. I gave into the gods’ desires. I sent him the love you. I mean, I knew it would happen eventually, but I didn’t think that it would be this soon.  
I feel the tiredness overcome me and my eyelids slowly drift together with each passing blink until they stay together.

I dream. I don’t dream about the random things like usual, I dream about him, Marco. It wasn’t just Marco though, I was also in my dream. We were dressed as Gumball and Marshall Lee as per usual and in one of the convention halls. We’re running. He has my left hand in his right. He looks back at me and smiles, he looks so happy, so happy to be with me. We stop at a stairwell in the building and he sits down to catch his breath. He pulls me down beside him and looks right in my eyes.  
“Jean, I love you.” Marco leans in and kisses me. It’s quick and light, but it’s definitely a kiss. His face takes on the all-too familiar red hue and he turns away.  
“Marco.” I put two fingers on his chin and turn him to face me again. I pull him closer and bring our foreheads together. I take a breath in and I let our lips fill the gap in between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I really liked writing this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I will try to post at least once every month or so, but no guarantees because school. You can find me on tumblr at www.thesonoftheshadows.tumblr.com or now on twitter @imtheshadows942 !


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